West Ham United’s second half of the season slump continued with a depressing home defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Although the two draws against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United were disappointing – particularly as they were matches the Hammers really should have won – a defeat against our south London neighbours is something different altogether.

There is no doubt Palace have been rejuvenated under Alan Pardew and there was a nagging sense before kick-off that the Eagles would provide a sterner test than they did when the Hammers won at Selhurst Park at the start of the season.

I doubt anyone could have expected Palace to score three times from set-pieces though, and Sam Allardyce must have been apoplectic after the game as it was something he highlighted during his pre-match interviews.

The fact is the Hammers are something of an anomaly at the moment – as if they were ever anything else! – just generally looking lacklustre and unsure of themselves.

There is little doubt defensively the team are better with Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson in the full-back positions but somehow the defence isn’t as solid as it looked last season when, on paper at least, the back four appeared weaker.

Despite initial, albeit it misplaced, enthusiasm from some quarters when Andy Carroll was ruled out for the rest of the season, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia don’t seem to be as potent a strike force as they did earlier in the campaign and the Geordie’s presence is undoubtedly missed at defensive set-pieces.

Meanwhile in midfield, despite some excellent performances from Mark Noble, Alex Song’s infuriating habit of giving the ball away is starting to become a serious issue.

Palace quite obviously targeted Song’s weakness and Big Sam will surely have to question whether or not he should rest the Cameroonian before the visit from Chelsea.

At one stage in the second half, a virtually immobile Song was robbed of the ball while he casually looked for an interesting pass with the crowd baying for the Barcelona loanee to make a pass – any pass! – that didn’t involve someone in a yellow shirt.

The whole incident smacked of an over-competitive Dad taking the ball from his young son over the park and it is has gone beyond a slight dip in form to something more worrying.

Of course, there are some fans who thing that Song is so keen to join the Hammers at the end of the season he is deliberately trying to get his asking price lowered with a series of unspectacular performances while others – more pragmatic perhaps – are sensing the reason Barcelona preferred to let the player go out on loan.

Whatever the reason, Sam needs to sort it out quickly.

With only one win in the last ten games the Hammers have slipped alarmingly but past the forthcoming Chelsea and Arsenal games the fixture list is kind enough to suggest a seventh or eighth place finish isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

It irks some certainly but until the Hammers are able to entertain larger crowds and generate more income, the squad size and development will nearly always mean the club finish below the current ‘big seven’.

Even Southampton – held up all season as a paragon of what a ‘smaller club’ can achieve – are starting to slide and it would be a brave man who put his mortgage on the Saints finishing in a European spot.

Fans could do with a couple of decent performances in their two upcoming London derbies. Confidence is a fragile thing in football and a further slump is likely to get the fans – never at their most patient nowadays – baying for further blood.